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the power should be kept in the city of Eugene. She suggested the citizens of the community decide how to best use the space downtown. She supported building an indoor, year-round Farmers Market structure. Moshe Immerman , 1295 McLean Boulevard, called Whole Foods Grocery the opposite of sustainable business. He alleged that $46 million would “leave the city” annually should Whole Foods Grocery be located here. He opposed the use of City staff time and money to support the project. Michelle Emmons , 132 East Broadway, #103, said in six years of working downtown she felt there had never been a more exciting time for the future of the downtown area. She averred that downtown was no longer lingering at the tipping point but was now at a “critical juncture of critical mass.” She said Whole Foods Grocery had a record of providing family-wage jobs, insurance, community reinvestment, and supported both local and global sustainable business practices. She commented that she would not stop shopping at her other favorite natural food markets. She stated that a new parking garage would serve parking needs into the future as the courthouse neighborhood continued to develop. She reiterated that city parking studies indicated the need to provide more parking in order to serve the mixed-use, dense urban development described in Eugene’s Growth and Sustainability Principles. She stressed that the community spent several years and “hundreds of thousands” of hours to accommodate the kind of development described in the Downtown Plan. She averred it was a valid plan and it was now time to realize the vision and move forward, stepping into the future of a safe, attractive, inviting, and economically vital downtown that would be a source of pride for everyone. Kevin Matthews , PO Box 1588, called the turnout at the council meeting a “great showing that the people of Eugene really care about their city.” He stated that the Friends of Eugene submitted written testimony. He related that the Friends of Eugene met the previous evening and had spent six hours listing “the problems and the points that need to be clarified.” He wondered why the City of Eugene was in this situation. He felt that developers were “always” going to try to approach the City looking for “sweetheart deals.” He opined that the City was not getting staff work that was “accurate and of the highest integrity.” He opined that the “low quality of the facts and findings” would leave the City “without a legal leg to stand on.” John Flanery , 1641 Broadway, commented that a market that built its strategy around shipping foods for thousands of miles was not a good future bet for the downtown area. He also wondered what the City would do if the Whole Foods Grocery failed. Candace Nelson , 361 Lombard Lane, opposed the proposed East Broadway parking project. She asked that Eugene citizens be allowed to determine the atmosphere of the downtown rather than business interests. She related that Friends of Eugene held a rally on March 7 at which many people voiced their opposition to the project. She wanted the City to be proactive rather than reactive when planning. She averred that the people wanted the City to plan and develop a downtown that reflected their common values. She asserted that the council was considering transferring money from other sources and that using taxes allocated for other things to build a parking garage was “wrong.” She opined that using public funds to build a garage and to pay for other infrastructure changes in order to entice a private business was unfair to other self- supporting private businesses. She wished for mixed-use development in the downtown area with residential development first. Jenny Gosset agreed that the downtown area could use improvement. She thought mixed-use development would revitalize it, but she opposed the proposed parking garage and its connection to the Whole Foods Grocery store. She thought the City should supply money “of the sort being discussed” to local businesses and then Eugene would become “a sustainable model to the world.” She suggested that money should be MINUTES—Eugene City Council -- March 13, 2006 Page 25 City Council Meeting